We all like offense, right? Few things in sports are more exciting than a back-and-forth football game, with each offense throwing haymaker after haymaker. But not every Super Bowl can be a festival of points.
Let’s revisit the five lowest-scoring Super Bowls in NFL history.
Which Super Bowl Was the Lowest Scoring?
When you think of very low-scoring games, your mind probably immediately jumps to the early years of the Super Bowl era. After all, we are in the golden age of offensive production. Scoring now is much higher than it was 20+ years ago.
Thus, it is quite unexpected that the lowest-scoring Super Bowl was relatively recent, occurring a mere six years ago. During the same season that saw the single greatest and highest-scoring regular-season game in NFL history, we had the lowest-scoring Super Bowl.
You may be wondering why a random Monday Night Football game is relevant to the Super Bowl being low-scoring.
Well, in that epic 54-51 shootout, it was the Los Angeles Rams taking down the Kansas City Chiefs — the very same Rams team that could only muster up three points in a Super Bowl loss to the New England Patriots.
Super Bowl LIII has the honor (or dishonor) of being the lowest-scoring game in Super Bowl history. Tom Brady’s Patriots emerged victorious over Jared Goff’s Rams by the score of 13-3.
It would be unfair to call this Super Bowl uncompetitive. Despite the Rams never really threatening the Patriots defense, we can’t really call a 10-point game a blowout. However, Los Angeles just had no answer for what New England did on defense.
The Rams defense did its job, limiting the Patriots to three points in the first half. Unfortunately, their offense didn’t score any. They finally got on the board in the third quarter, nodding the game at three all. But eventually, the winningest quarterback in NFL history was going to break through.
The Patriots put up 10 points in the fourth quarter, securing a sixth championship for Brady in what would be his last as the quarterback in New England.
Lowest-Scoring Super Bowls | 2-5
2) Super Bowl VII | Miami Dolphins 14, Washington Redskins 7
For the second lowest-scoring Super Bowl, we go way back to the 1972 season. The famed ’72 Miami Dolphins scored a single touchdown in each of the first two quarters and then rode their defense the rest of the way.
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Their victory over Washington earned Miami their first Super Bowl win and capped off a perfect 17-0 season. Thanks to Eli Manning, David Tyree, and Plaxico Burress 35 years later, it remains the only undefeated season in NFL history.
3) Super Bowl IX | Pittsburgh Steelers 16, Minnesota Vikings 6
Just two years later, the Pittsburgh Steelers and Minnesota Vikings played what would end up being the third lowest-scoring Super Bowl ever.
Kicking off a run of four Super Bowl wins in six years, Terry Bradshaw and the Steel Curtain defense did what they had been doing all season — shutting down opponents.
This should’ve been the lowest-scoring Super Bowl in history, as the Vikings did not score any offensive points. Their lone touchdown came on a blocked punt.
Despite this being a 10-point contest in the end, the outcome was never really in doubt, as the Steelers defense dominated the game through and through.
4) Super Bowl III | New York Jets 16, Baltimore Colts 7
Just three years after the AFL/NFL merger became official, New York Jets quarterback Joe Namath famously guaranteed his team would win the Super Bowl.
Although Namath didn’t do much in the game, failing to throw for a single touchdown, the Jets controlled the game the entire way. They scored their lone touchdown in the first half and added three second-half field goals before the Baltimore Colts scored a meaningless touchdown in the waning minutes of the fourth quarter.
The Jets are still looking for their second Super Bowl appearance.
5) Super Bowl VI | Dallas Cowboys 24, Miami Dolphins 3
The Dallas Cowboys, led by Roger Staubach and Hall of Fame head coach Tom Landry, captured the first of what would eventually be five Super Bowl trophies, by completely shutting down the Dolphins’ offense.
After a first-quarter field goal, the Cowboys scored exactly one touchdown in each of the next three quarters. The Dolphins, meanwhile, couldn’t manage more than a single field goal, coming in the second quarter.
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One year before they would post their undefeated season, Miami gave the single worst offensive effort we had seen from a team in the Super Bowl until the Rams.
It’s an incredibly impressive feat to make three consecutive Super Bowls. The Dolphins would even go on to win the next two. However, in this one, they might as well have not shown up.
